$12M lost to crypto scams in Surrey in 2023: RCMP
Posted March 7, 2024 8:00 pm.
Mounties say residents in Surrey lost more than $12 million to cryptocurrency fraud in 2023.
Surrey RCMP said in a release Thursday they had received 229 reports of fraud involving cryptocurrency from residents in the city.
“The majority of frauds were related to investment scams,” Cpl. Sarbjit Sangha said.
Police say victims were introduced to cryptocurrency-related investments through social media, phone calls, online advertisements, and online dating platforms.
“Using spoofed websites and mobile applications with fake trades and profits, the victims are encouraged to invest money on the investing platform,” Mounties said.
When the victims tried to pull out their money, scammers would ask for more for taxes, and fees.
“Eventually the scammer stops communicating with the victim and the victim realizes they have been defrauded of all the money they believed they were investing.”
Mounties say they are already seeing more reports this year. In January and February, the Surrey RCMP received 50 fraud reports involving cryptocurrency, with losses of over $3,200,000.
The Surrey RCMP says it has also seen an uptick in job scams, grandparent scams, rental scams, bank scams, cellphone scams, and fake bank drafts.
With files from Cole Schisler.
